New Delhi: An Indian tribunal on Wednesday granted Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) partial relief by overturning four of ten antitrust orders in a case involving its Android operating system’s dominant market position.

In October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) stated that Google had abused its dominant position in Android and ordered it to remove limitations placed on device makers, including those relating to app pre-installation. Google was also penalised $161 million.

An Indian appeals tribunal on Wednesday said CCI’s findings of Google’s anti-competitive conduct were correct and the company was also liable to pay the fine, but it quashed four of the 10 antitrust remedies that had been imposed on Google to change its business model.

Among the benefits is that Google will no longer be required to host third-party app stores within the Play Store, as previously directed by the CCI.

The move will provide some relief to Google after the Supreme Court of India refused to suspend any of the antitrust remedies imposed last year in January. The Supreme Court had requested the tribunal to hear the case on merit and rule by the end of March.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, Google made significant changes to Android in India, including allowing device makers to licence individual apps for pre-installation and allowing users to select their default search engine – changes that the Indian tribunal did not interfere with on Wednesday.

Google scores partial victory in Android antitrust case in India https://t.co/O26STn3tFi pic.twitter.com/gqaNbbwuqa

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 29, 2023

Among other benefits, Google will no longer be required to enable users to uninstall pre-installed apps such as Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. The company can also continue to impose restrictions on “sideloading,” a practise of downloading apps without using an app store that CCI has stated must be prohibited.

It was unclear whether Google would appeal the ruling to revoke the other CCI remedies. The company said in a statement that it was “reviewing the order and evaluating our legal options.”

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Google was concerned about India’s Android decision because the directives were perceived to be more sweeping than those imposed in the European Commission’s landmark 2018 judgement against the operating system.

According to Counterpoint Research, Android powers approximately 97% of India’s 600 million smartphones, while the system powers 75% of Europe’s 550 million devices.

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